书城外语让心灵去旅行
3416700000001

第1章 拥有什么样的人生取决于你自己(1)

What I Have Lived for我为何而活

William Russell/威廉姆·罗素

Three passions,simple but overwhelmingly strong,have governed my life:the longing for love,the search for knowledge,and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.These passions,like great winds have blown me hither and thither,in a wayward course,over a deep ocean of anguish,reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love,first,because it brings ecstasy ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy.I have sought it,next,because it relieves loneliness that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold able lifeless abyss.I have sought it,finally,because in the union of love I have seen,in a mystic miniature,the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined.This is what I sought,and though it might seem too good for human life,this is what-at last-I have found.

有三种单纯却强烈无比的热情,支配了我的生命:对爱的渴望、对知识的追求,以及对人类苦难所寄予的无限同情。这些热情像狂风一样,从无法掌控的方向吹袭着我,穿越过痛苦的深渊,到达失望的边缘。

我追寻着爱,首先,因为它带来了莫大的喜悦这喜悦是如此强烈,往往令我宁愿牺牲生活中的一切来享受几小时的这种喜悦。我追寻着爱。其次,因为它解除了寂寞在那种可怕的寂寞之中,一种颤抖的意识,越过世界的边际,进入那酷寒、深不可测又毫无生气的无底深渊。我追寻着爱,最后,是因为我在一幅神秘的画像中看过爱的和谐,圣人和诗人所想像的天堂景象。这就是我所追寻的,这对人类生活而言似乎太过美好,而这就是我终于发现到的。

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.I have wished to understand the hearts of men.I have wished to know why the stars shine.And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power...A little of this,but not much,I have achieved.

Love and knowledge,so far as they were possible,led upward toward the heavens.But always pity brought me back to earth.Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart.Children in famine,victims tortured by oppressors,helpless old people a hated burden to their sons,and the whole world of loneliness,poverty,and pain make a mockery of what human life should be.I long to alleviate the evil,but I cannot,and I too suffer.

This has been my life.I have found it worth living,and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

我以同样的热忱追求着知识,我一直希望了解人类的心灵,我一直想知道星星为什么会闪烁,我企图了解毕达哥拉斯的能力……这当中的一点点,并不多,但我得到了。

爱与知识,在它们能力范围内,能引导我们上天堂;不过憾事总是让我回到现实生活。痛苦哭声的回响在我心中回荡,饥饿的儿童、遭到暴虐、迫害的受难者、无助的老人成为儿子们厌恶的负担、以及全世界的孤寂、贫穷与痛苦使人类生活成为一个笑话。我期盼减轻厄运,但是我不能,我也同样受苦。

这就是我的生活。我发现它值得一活,而且如果给我机会的话,我乐于再活一次。

Let Yourself Go

走自己的路

Anonymous/佚名

Several years ago,I received a post card from a friend in Jackson Hole,Wyo.who wrote,“I am skiing with abandon!”I wondered what he meant,for when I ski it is always with trepidation①.I believe he meant he was skiing skillfully,joyfully,peacefully and confidently.Although I have no hopes of ever skiing that way,I do dream of living with abandon.I believe that men and women through the ages who have led successful lives have captured these five secrets of living life to the fullest.

几年前,我收到一张明信片,是一位住在怀俄明州的朋友杰克逊.霍尔寄来的。他写道:“我正在尽情地滑雪。”我感到很奇怪,因为我滑雪时总是惊恐不安的。我相信.他是说自己正熟练、欢快、平稳而又自信地滑雪。尽管.我是毫无希望那样滑雪的,但我梦想尽情地生活。我相信,经时间证明那些生活幸福的人,都掌握了尽情生活的以下五个秘诀。

Havea self-respect This means having a deep sense of responsibility for your thoughts and actions.It means keeping your word,and being faithful to self,family and work.It means believing in what you do and working hard.It means setting your own internal standards,and not comparing yourself to others.It’s not a question of being better than someone else;respect and integrity demand that you be better than you thought you could be.

Winston Churchill exemplified②integrity and respect in the face of opposition.During his last year in office,he attended an official ceremony,Several rows behind his two gentlemen began whispering.“That‘s Winston Churchill.”“They say he is getting senile.”“They say he should step aside and leave the running of the nation to more dynamic and capable men.”When the ceremony was over,Churchill turned to the men and said,“Gentlemen,they also say he is deaf !”

Churchill knew that one secret to a self you can respect is to choose a course of action based on what is right,not expedient③,and not waver from it when criticized.

自尊这意味着要对自己的言行高度负责:要遵守诺言、对自己、家庭和事业忠诚;信仰自己的事业并为之努力奋斗:要设立自身的内在准则,不与他人攀比。这不是说一定要比别人更好.自尊和正直要求自己比自我感觉的更好。

面对敌对者,温斯顿·丘吉尔树立了自尊和正直的典范。他最后一年任职时.参加了一次公务典礼。他后面几排的两位绅士窃窃私语,“那就是温斯顿·丘吉尔。”他们说他越来越老了。“他们说,他应该退位,应该由精力充沛、能力更强的人来替代他管理国家。”典礼结束后,丘吉尔转身向那两个人说道:“先生们,他们还说丘吉尔是个聋子!”

丘吉尔懂得:要在正确的基础上选择自己的行动,虽然这并非权宜之计,但我们也不要因受到责难而动摇。这是维护自尊的一个秘诀。

Commit yourself to others Believe in others,and take time to nurture their dreams.A wise man said,“If you want one year’s prosperity,grow grain.But if you want ten years‘prosperity,grow men and women.”

You can build into the lives of your family,friends and colleagues by providing nutrients of gratitude and encouragement,and by investing your time and energy in their aspirations④.If a tree is given minimal nourishment,it will live,but it will not grow.But if nourishment is given over and beyond what is needed for life,the tree will live and grow upward,producing fruit.

为他人付出要相信他人.慢慢培养他们的梦想。一位智者说过:“种植庄稼可以使你获得一年的兴旺,而育人可以得到十年的繁荣昌盛。”

对于家人,朋友和同事,只要你愿意给予感激和鼓励.愿意花时间和精力去满足他们的愿望,你们就能够生活得和睦融洽。如果一棵树只获得微量的营养时,它会存活.但不会成长;但如果它的给养充足,超过了生存的需要.它就可以生存下来,并长成参天大树、开花结果。

Turn disappointments into strengths Individuals who live with abandon have discovered that personal trials make them more sensitive and loving,while building endurance and character.They have learned that achievements worth remembering are stained with the blood of diligence and etched with the scars of disappointment.

The pages of history are filled with the heroic stories of undaunted⑤men and women who triumphed over disabilities and adversities to demonstrate victorious spirits.Raise him in abject poverty,and you have an Abraham Lincoln.Make her blind and deaf,and you have a Helen Keller.

化失望为动力人们尽情的生活时便会发现,磨砺在培养毅力和个性的同时,也让他们更机敏、更富于爱心。他们深知,成就凝结着辛勤的血汗,铭刻着失望的疤痕,所以值得回忆纪念。

刚毅无畏的人们战胜残疾和不幸,显示出伟大的胜利精神.他们的英雄事迹写满了历史的每一个篇章。如在贫困中成长的亚伯拉罕·林肯;失明又失聪的海伦·凯勒。